Gardens of the Moon
Gardens of the Moon is the first novel the Malazan Book of the Fallen epic fantasy series. It was written by Steven Erikson in 1992–1993 and first released on April 1, 1999 in Great Britain and Canada. It was later released in the United States on December 28, 2004, and has been re-released in multiple editions and in many countries. The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting and bloody confrontations with the formidable Anomander Rake, lord of Moon's Spawn, and his Tiste Andii. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen's rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins. For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving sorceress of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the Siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out and it is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze. However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand . . . Conceived and written on a panoramic scale, Gardens of the Moon is epic fantasy of the highest order – an enthralling adventure by an outstanding new voice. Dedication This novel is dedicated to I. C. Esslemont. Worlds to conquer, worlds to share. Dramatis Personae 'The Malazan Empire' Onearm's Host * Tattersail, Cadre Sorceress, 2nd Army, a reader of the Deck of Dragons * Hairlock, Cadre Mage, 2nd Army, an unpleasant rival of Tayschrenn * Calot, Cadre Mage, 2nd Army, Tattersail's lover * Toc the Younger, scout, 2nd Army, a Claw agent badly scarred at the Siege of Pale The Bridgeburners * Sergeant Whiskeyjack, 9th Squad, past commander of the 2nd Army * Corporal Kalam, 9th Squad, an ex-Claw from Seven Cities * Quick Ben, 9th Squad, a Seven Cities Mage * Sorry, 9th Squad, a deadly killer in the guise of a young girl * Hedge, 9th Squad, a sapper * Fiddler, 9th Squad, a sapper * Trotts, 9th Squad, a Barghast warrior * Mallet, 9th Squad, the squad healer * Sergeant Antsy, 7th Squad * Picker, 7th Squad The Imperial Command * Ganoes Stabro Paran, a noble-born officer in the Malazan Empire * Dujek Onearm, High Fist, Malazan Armies, Genabackis Campaign * Tayschrenn, High Mage to the Empress * Bellurdan, High Mage to the Empress * Nightchill, High Sorceress to the Empire * A'Karonys, High Mage to the Empress * Lorn, Adjunct to the Empress * Topper, Commander of the Claw * Empress Laseen, Ruler of the Malazan Empire House Paran (Unta) * Tavore, Ganoes' sister (middle-child) * Felisin, Ganoes' younger sister * Gamet, House Guard and veteran In The Emperor's Time * Emperor Kellanved, the founder of the Empire, assassinated by Laseen * Dancer, the Emperor's chief adviser, assassinated by Laseen * Surly, Laseen's old name when Commander of the Claw * Dassem Ultor, the First Sword of Empire, killed outside Y'Ghatan, Seven Cities * Toc (the Elder), disappeared in Laseen's purges of the Old Guard 'In Darujhistan' The Phoenix Inn Regulars * Kruppe, a man of false modesty * Crokus Younghand, a young thief * Rallick Nom, an assassin in the Guild * Murillio, a courtier * Coll, a drunk * Meese, a regular * Irilta, a regular * Scurve, the barman * Sulty, a serving woman * Chert, an unlucky bully The T'orrud Cabal * Baruk, a High Alchemist * Derudan, a Witch of Tennes * Mammot, a High Priest of D'riss and eminent scholar, uncle to Crokus * Travale, a pious soldier of the cabal * Tholis, a High Mage * Parald, a High Mage The Council * Turban Orr, a powerful councilman Simtal's lover * Lim, an ally of Turban Orr * Simtal, Lady of Simtal Estate * Estraysian D'Arle, a rival of Turban Orr * Challice D'Arle, his daughter The Guild of Assassins * Vorcan, Mistress of the Guild (also known as the Master of Assassins) * Ocelot, Rallick Nom's Clan Leader * Talo Krafar, an assassin of Jurrig Denatte's Clan * Krute of Talient, agent of the Guild Also in the City * The Eel, a rumored master-spy * Circle Breaker, an agent of the Eel * Vildrom, a city guard * Captain Stillis, Captain of the Guard, Simtal Estate 'Further Players' The Tiste Andii * Anomander Rake, Lord of Moon's Spawn, Son of Darkness, Knight of Darkness * Serrat, second-in-command to Rake * Korlat, a night-hunter and blood-kin to Serrat * Orfantal, a night-hunter * Horult, a night-hunter The T'lan Imass * Logros, Commander of the T'lan Imass Clans serving the Malazan Empire * Onos T'oolan, a clanless warrior * Pran Chole, a Bonecaster (shaman) of the Kron T'lan Imass * Kig Aven, a Clan Leader Others * Crone, a Great Raven and servant to Anomander Rake * Silanah, an Eleint and companion to Anomander Rake * Raest, a Jaghut Tyrant * K'rul, and Elder God, the Maker of Paths * Caladan Brood, the warlord, opposing the Malazan armies in the North Campaign * Kallor, Brood's second in command * Prince K'azz D'Avore, Commander of the Crimson Guard * Jorrick Sharplance, a Crimson Guard Officer * Cowl, a High Mage in the Crimson Guard * Corporal Blues, Sixth Blade of the Crimson Guard * Fingers, Sixth Blade of the Crimson Guard * The Hound Baran, a Hound of Shadow * The Hound Blind, a Hound of Shadow * The Hound Gear, a Hound of Shadow * The Hound Rood, a Hound of Shadow * The Hound Shan, a Hound of Shadow * The Hound Doan, a Hound of Shadow * The Hound Ganrod, a Hound of Shadow * Shadowthrone/Ammanas, Ruler of the Warren of Shadow * The Rope/Cotillion, Companion of Shadowthrone and Patron of Assasins * Icarium, Builder of the Wheel of Ages in Darujihistan * Mappo, Icarium's companion * The Pannion Seer, a Prophet Tyrant ruling the Pannion Domin Plot summary Prologue The story opens in the year 1154 of Burn's Sleep (1154th Year of Burn's Sleep), the 96th year of the Malazan Empire and the last year of Kellanved's Reign. Twelve year old Ganoes Paran stands on the wall of Mock's Hold, looking out over the Mouse Quarter of Malaz City. His father is within discussing trade with the Fist who runs Mock's Hold. Ganoes is approached by an unnamed commander of the Bridgeburners. They discuss the death of Dassem Ultor, the empire's First Sword, at the city of Y'Ghatan. The commander is approached by another Bridgeburner with a fiddle on his back and the two start discussing the purge of the Mouse Quarter and then Surly's change of name to Laseen. Ganoes interjects that the name Laseen means Thronemaster in the Napan tongue. Finally, Surly herself appears, flanked by Claw acolytes. She and the commander exchange veiled threats and the commander asserts that her laws against sorcery will not survive Kellanved's return. Surly dismisses the commander and leaves. As the prologue closes, Ganoes tells the commander that he will be a soldier when he grows up. The commander warns him against it but is met with nothing but derision from the boy. Book One: Pale Chapter 1 Book I begins seven years after the prologue in 1161st Year of Burn's Sleep. It is the 7th year of Laseen's rule. A young fishergirl stands on the roadside in Itko Kan next to an old woman named Rigga as the army rides by on the road. The old woman has a bag of candles while the fishergirl is bringing twine to her father because their net was taken in the deep water. Suddenly, the old woman knocks the basket of twine from the fishergirl's head and grips her hair painfully. Rigga begins spouting prophecy at the fishergirl, claiming that the girl will be the last to hear her, and Rigga will be the last one to speak to the girl. Rigga claims the girl's soul will be embraced by shadow but that Rigga will preserve her because they are linked. Rigga also tells the fishergirl that the Lord spawned in darkness shall be the hand to free her. One of the riders stops and cracks the old woman's skull, killing her. He rides off and the army passes by but the girl remains there, with Rigga's corpse sprawled across her lap. A man swathed in black approaches her and tries to calm her while a shorter man stands in the road looking after the army that has just passed and mocks the other two quietly. The shorter man raises his arms and a darkness descends. As it dissipated, seven hounds lay on the road with him, likewise staring after the army. The short man sends them tearing after the horses. The two figures then reveal themselves to be Cotillion and Ammanas, and they seem to be discussing what to do with the fishergirl. Cotillion says that she will do for their purposes, and it is implied that they will use the fishergirl as an instrument of vengence against the Empress Laseen. The fishergirl mutters something implying that she and the old woman are now one person, having joined at the moment of the old woman's death. With that, shadows flow out from Cotillion to embrace the fishergirl and she knows no more. An unnamed Captain and the Adjunct are riding horses. The captain is Old Guard, stationed in Itko Kan for 13 years, and is scared of the Adjunct to the Empress having survived the purge. He is not noble born, or he would not have survived the purge, despite the Itko Kan people being less excitable than other parts of the empire. His last engagement was the Wickan Plains. His soldiers are veterans of the siege of Li Heng and the Wickan Wars, but they are disturbed by the bloody carnage they witness. The area of Itko Kan has been contained after the hounds of shadow had killed the entire marching army. From a promontory, they look out over thousands of gulls and crows eating the dead mean and horses. 175 men and women. 210 horses. The 19th Regiment of the Itko Kanese 8th cavalry. All dead. All had weapons out and fought what attacked them, but the only dead are Malazan. There are no signs of an invading force, and whoever attacked also killed the local inhabitants. Over 400 dead. The Adjunct notices someone riding through the bodies and the captain tells her it is Ganoes Paran, a Lieutenant new to his command from Unta. Lorn requests his presence and the captain signals him over. Ganoes tells of two empty huts, one belonging to Rigga, the other to the fishergirl and her father. The fishergirl’s father has taken his boat out and left the area. Lorn asks what killed the soldiers and Ganoes offers his opinion that it was done with teeth, by animals as big as mules. Lorn has Paran take her to the hut, instructing the captain to clean up the massacre as quickly as possible. After speaking with Ganoes for a short while, the Adjunct decides to take him on as a commissioned officer on her staff. The Adjunct is open and honest with Ganoes, telling him that something has happened and killing all of these people is simply a diversion to keep them from knowing what really happened. It is revealed that the purpose of the Adjunct is to hunt down mages and kill them, as well as act as the will of the Empress. Ganoes is sent to Gerrom to investigate the fisher family while Lorn requests the records of any new recruits for the Malazan army as well as the captain’s opinions on the nobility in the military command structure. Sorry enlists in the Malazan Marines. She requests a spot in High Fist Dujek Onearm’s Host. The recruiter, Staff Sergeant Aragan, notices the mud on her boots is the wrong color for the region and it hasn’t rained there in days. Ganoes goes to Gerrom and finds it empty. Everyone had fled and the soldiers at the local constabulary were all killed. The constabulary itself was full of black pigeons, obviously brought there by sorcery. He rides off, contemplating his lot as a noble and the massacre of the 8th cavalry. He rmemebers the words of Whiskeyjack back on Mock’s Hold, telling him to live quietly, and he realizes –now the aide to the Adjunct – that he has not done so. Riding along numbly, he sees a figure on the road, dressed all in green leather and wool and bearing only a long knife in the style of a Seven Cities warrior. The figure is Topper, the Empress’s chief Claw assassin, and the murderer of all of Unta’s royal line. Ganoes, as an Untan noble, is immediately offended by him. They wait until a Warren opens for them. Topper has been sent to lead Ganoes to the Adjunct. Their trip through the Imperial Warren is uneventful, though filled with verbal sniping at each other. Finally they arrive at a basalt arch, carved with a clawed talon holding a crystal globe – the Imperial Sigil. Topper steps through the gate, but Ganoes rides through on his horse – and into the Imperial throne room. The horses hooves shatter the mosaic that covers the floor of the Hall of the Throne as Laseen herself looks on from her throne made of twisted bone. Dismounting, Ganoes notices that Laseen has changed little in the seven years since he last saw her at Mock’s Hold. The empress makes reference to the conversation between the young Ganoes and Whiskeyjack, noting that he ignored Whiskeyjack’s advice about living quietly. Ganoes is led from the throne room by Topper, in search of Adjunct Lorn. As soon as they leave the throne room, Topper inquires about the empress’s words to Ganoes, but Ganoes refrains from elaborating. Ganoes meets with the Adjunct, and is told that he will have a few days before being officially reassigned to her service. Since they are in Unta, he decides to visit his family’s estate. At the gates, he meets the veteran, Gamet, and encounters Tavore. Chapter 2 Two years later, in 1163rd Year of Burn's Sleep, Chapter two centers on the end of the Siege of Pale and the attack on Moon’s Spawn. The chapter opens after the Enfilade that killed all of Tattersail’s Cadre, including her lover, Calot. Tattersail watches as the Black Moranth exact their vengence on the city of Pale. Hairlock lies dying, missing his legs as several Bridgeburners (Whiskeyjack, Sorry, Kalam, and Quick Ben) arrive. Whiskeyjack and the Bridgeburners have been trying to undermine the walls of Pale for three years, and most were killed as the siege ended and tunnels collapsed. Of the 1400 Bridgeburners, only about 35 survived after the last day. Tayschrenn stopped the remaining Bridgeburners from trying to dig out their comrades. Tattersail remembers back to earlier in the morning, waking up with Calot, when Hairlock summoned them both with magic. Arriving at the command tent, Tayschrenn and Hairlock are already there with Dujek appearing moments later. Dujek explains that they will be attacking Moon's Spawn directly, causing Hairlock to become paranoid and suspocious. The High Fist explains that a Claw has already been dispatched to distract the city's mages while their assault begins. Recalling the poem Anomandaris by Fisher Kel Tath, Tattersail, Calot and Hairlock determine that the Lord of Moon's Spawn must be Anomander Rake himself, a wielder of the Elder magic of Kurald Galain. Tayschrenn explains that Bellurdan discovered information in the ancient tome Gothos' Folly regarding the Tiste Andii that may aid them in battle. The final battle of the Siege of Pale begins with Tayschrenn on a hill directly underneath Moon's Spawn, Nightchill, Bellurdan, and A'Karonys on another hill further away, and Tattersail, Hairlock, and Calot on the furthest hill. Tayschrenn makes the first attack on Moon's Spawn, unexpectedly antagonizing the Great Ravens who had lain there to roost. The other mages also began their assault, but were unexpectedly attacked from behind. These attacks led to Hairlock being cut in two, Calot sacrificing himself to defend Tattersail, Nightchill being torn in two by a Kenryll'ah demon, and A'Karonys' death from an ice-based magical attack. The numerous sorcerous attacks originating from Moon's Spawn were deflected by Tayschrenn onto the defenceless 2nd and 5th armies situated on the plain, killing thousands in very little time. After sustaining heavy damage, Moon's Spawn retreats to the Tahlyn Mountains to the south. Awakened from her gruesome reverie by the nearby Bridgeburners, Hairlock forces her to come to the conclusion that it was Tayschrenn and not Rake that had purposely tried to kill them. This surprise is compounded by her witnessing Quick Ben's use of ancient magic to soulshift Hairlock into a puppet's body. When pressured by the Bridgeburners to accept the hidden puppet that had become Hairlock, she also agrees to become part of their conspiracy against Tayschrenn as revenge for the murder of so many of their comrades. Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Book Two: Darujhistan Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Book Three: The Mission Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Book Four: Assassins Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Book Five: The Gadrobi Hills Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Book Six: The City of Blue Fire Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Book Seven: The Fête Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Epilogue Cover gallery Image:GoTM_UK_AR.jpg|United Kingdom cover art Bantam (1999) Image:GM cover UK bantam 2008.jpg|United Kingdom cover art Bantam (2008) Image:GM cover UK bantam 2009.jpg|10th anniversary cover art Bantam (2009) Image:GM cover DE goldmann 2000.jpg|German cover art Goldmann (2000) Image:USGoTM.jpg|United States cover art Bantam (2004) Image:GM cover US tor 2009.jpg|United States cover art Tor (2009) Image:GM cover US subterranean 2009.jpg|United States cover art Subterranean Press (2009) Category:Malazan Book of the Fallen Category:Books by Steven Erikson Category:Books (real-world)